2015

During October and November 2015, Matt and I volunteered to teach English in Indonesia. I studied Indonesian at university and was teaching it at Living Waters Lutheran Primary School, Alice Springs. While still at university, I had a desire to use my language skills abroad. I therefore had spoken with Glenice Hartwich about mission opportunities […]

Immense hardship and deep sorrow have filled much of Kert Voun’s 64 years of life. Married in 1975, her husband and two of her infant sons died during those murderous years of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. Her second husband, whom she married in 1979, died just one year later, leaving her to care […]

The competition was intense and the songs of praise articulated with joy and precision as 28 groups vied for the title of the best women’s choir of the Huria Batak Protestan church (HKBP) in Indonesia on Saturday, 28 November. Women in a kaleidoscope of coloured kebayas (traditional Indonesia formal women’s dress), brightly painted lips and […]

“How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! … For there the Lord bestows his blessing, life forevermore.” Psalm 133 The fourth conference on Lutheran Identity and Self-Understanding for the LWF’s Asia-Pacific region was held in Manila from 16-20 November, coinciding with the APEC conference in the same city. Despite […]

Sitting on the hard wooden bed inside her home, Who Met reflects on the most recent years of her life lived in rural Cambodia. Words that describe the atrocities and deep hurt experienced during the Pol Pot regime remain unuttered. At seventy years of age Who Met, like other women her age should be sitting […]

The joy on Ung Ein’s face is evident as she sits on the bench with her friends from the village of Krus, Cambodia waiting for the bible study to begin following her midday time meal. Ung Ein first started coming to the Life Centre following her retirement in 2011 as a primary school teacher. Since […]

Sei’s heart races as the sound of the vehicle winding its way up the steep slopes leading into Huay Me village reaches her ears. She straightens up, drops the tools she has been using to plant her dry rice and races back to her village. In her haste to meet Ajan Amnuay, Sei slips over, […]